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From the Naxos Blog: Rachmaninov, Giltburg, Sinaisky. Three titans.
March 17, 2023

This blog visits a new album scheduled for release on April 14 that features works for piano and orchestra by Sergei Rachmaninov (2023 marks the 150th anniversary of his birth).

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From the Naxos Blog: From bile to bravura. Musical temperaments.
March 03, 2023

When I was a teenager, I would occasionally try and bash through Poulenc’s Thème varié on my long-suffering upright piano. I loved the lilt of the original theme on which the variations are based. Here it is:

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From the Naxos Blog: Classical FINDS 4
February 17, 2023

Music from Finland brings our short survey of Nordic music over the past few weeks to a close. For most people, the country’s reputation for classical music is probably dominated by the name of Jean Sibelius (1865–1957), so this blog will try and turn the spotlight on works by other composers deserving of air-time.

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From the Naxos Blog: Classical FINDS 3
February 03, 2023

It’s Norway that comes under the spotlight this week in our Nordic composers survey. Iceland + Sweden and Denmark featured in the first two instalments; Finland will take the finale spot. The seven Norwegian composers in this chapter will be heard in chronological order, with one exception.

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From the Naxos Blog: Classical FINDS 2
January 20, 2023

The first instalment in our brief survey of music from the Nordic countries – Finland, Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden [FINDS] – featured composers from Iceland and Sweden. This edition showcases music by a selection of Danish composers, whom we’ll introduce in broadly chronological order.

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From the Naxos Blog: Classical FINDS 1
January 06, 2023

The next few editions of the Naxos blog will offer a smörgåsbord of music from the Nordic countries, presenting examples from Finland, Iceland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden (FINDS, my acronym) that may be unfamiliar yet richly rewarding. This edition showcases composers from Iceland and Sweden.

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From the Naxos Blog: Friends reunited
December 23, 2022

So, taking a cue from Naxos’ release this month of a new album of Howell’s piano music, I thought my blog could assemble a selection of works by these three characteristically ‘English’ composers – Howells, Sumsion and Finzi – in a sort of musical Friends Reunited.

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From the Naxos Blog: Samuel Barber. An orchestral mix.
December 09, 2022

There can be few pieces to rival the popularity of Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, be it performed from the ‘original score’ (it was itself an arrangement of an earlier string quartet movement) or in one of the plentiful arrangements of the piece for other forces.

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Piston Power
November 25, 2022

Quite by accident, I came across the fact that November 25, the date of this posting, also marks the 1955 premiere of American composer Walter Piston’s Sixth Symphony. Taking the lead from that touch of serendipity, I thought this edition might give a sketch of the composer and his output. Within my own sphere of experience, his name is better known than his music.

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From the Naxos Blog: Cláudio Santoro: Symphonies 11 and 12
November 11, 2022

The previous edition of our Naxos blog focused on two symphonies that Brazilian composer Cláudio Santoro (1919–89) composed in the 1950s – the Fourth and Fifth – the latter written to mark the founding of the country’s new capital, Brasilia.

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From the Naxos Blog: Cláudio Santoro: Symphonies 5 and 7
October 28, 2022

Cláudio Santoro features significantly in the Naxos Music of Brazil series, which is a joint undertaking with Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to promote music by Brazilian composers in an extensive series of new albums.

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From the Naxos Blog: Pater seraphicus (1822–1890)
October 14, 2022

Pater seraphicus is how the 19th-century pianist/organist/teacher/composer César Franck was known to his pupils.

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From the Naxos Blog: Good mourning, good music
September 30, 2022

If you’ve already made your will, maybe you’ve also stipulated the music you would like to be played at the assembly for your funeral service.

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From the Naxos Blog: Mere trifles?
August 19, 2022

Labelling Beethoven’s Für Elise a mere trifle might appear insulting to such a household name and piano solo favourite.

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From the Naxos Blog: August by name, not by nature.
August 05, 2022

Here’s a small selection of works celebrating August, not as an evocative month approaching Autumn, but as a dedicatee (August Bournonville), a composer’s name (August Baeyens, Friedrich August Belcke), a source of literary inspiration (August von Platen-Hallermünde, August Strindberg), and an arranger (August Eberhard Müller).

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From the Naxos Blog: Warpaths
July 15, 2022

It’s maybe too convenient to restrict references to war to big anniversary dates, so this blog presents a small selection of musical works that paint the subject of conflict in tuneful reminders of how wearisome and worthless the daily pursuit is.

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From the Naxos Blog: Don’t talk nonsense. Sing it!
July 01, 2022

With so many world events defying logic right now, I thought we might escape briefly into a space where words make no attempt to stack up, but merely divert for a while and lighten the spirit. Welcome to the literary worlds of Lewis Carroll, William Brighty Rands, Hilaire Belloc and someone called Mr Traditional.

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From the Naxos Blog: Visions of the past
June 17, 2022

While most people tend to seek visions of the future—especially where lottery tickets are concerned—this blog cites four works featuring musical visions from the past.

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From the Naxos Blog: Competition lore
June 03, 2022

Although they have their detractors, national and international music competitions continue to stand the test of time.

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From the Naxos Blog: The sound of sparklers.
May 20, 2022

The oft-adopted adage “pressure makes diamonds” stems from massive pressure and ferocious temperatures combining beneath the Earth’s crust to produce precious stones of enduring value from the single element of carbon: chemistry and physics ultimately give way to craftsmanship and art in achieving the final product.

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From the Naxos Blog: Sunk in grandeur.
May 06, 2022

King Louis XIV of France, the legendary ‘Sun King’ and victim of the awful play on words in the title of this blog, was born in 1638; he ascended to the throne in 1643, four months before his fifth birthday, and died in 1715.

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From the Naxos Blog: Ukraine scores.
April 15, 2022

In 1980, I sat in the Kyiv Opera House enjoying a performance of Verdi’s Il trovatore as one of a handful of British music teachers permitted entry into the USSR under an educational exchange scheme.

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From the Naxos Blog: April associates.
April 01, 2022

Living in the northern hemisphere, we’re at that bubbly time of year when I can look out of the window and gorge my eyes on the colourful spectrum of flowers that the month of April brings.

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From the Naxos Blog: Wolfgang Rihm. Protean par excellence.
March 18, 2022

Leading German composer Wolfgang Rihm celebrated his 70th birthday on 13 March.

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From the Naxos Blog: George Crumb (1929–2022)
March 04, 2022

The American composer George Crumb died on 6 February, aged 92.

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From the Naxos Blog: Fairy tails
February 18, 2022

Definitions of the word ‘fairy’ as perceived down the ages are wide-ranging, with notions of diminutive enchantresses contrasting with images of grotesque goblins.

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From the Naxos Blog: Skylights
February 04, 2022

One of the items on my bucket list that I’d like to tick off before the great light-switch of life gets flicked is to experience the Northern Lights, also known as the Aurora Borealis.

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From the Naxos Blog: When in Rome…
January 21, 2022

I live in the city of Canterbury, in the south east of England.

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From the Naxos Blog: A star is born
January 07, 2022

The beginning of a new calendar year also marks the Christian Feast of the Epiphany as embodied in the journey of the Three Wise Men seeking the new-born Jesus, led by a star.

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From the Naxos Blog: Counter-tenorism.
December 17, 2021

The human voice, Nature’s ‘instrument’, is a flexible piece of equipment. Men singing in the female sex’s natural register or ‘modal voice’ is usually referred to as a counter-tenor, sometimes a male soprano.

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From the Naxos Blog: December’s in the ayre.
December 03, 2021

Although city centres and shopping complexes have for some weeks been ringing with the sound of musical Christmas jollies, this blog presents the reverse side of the coin, with a small selection of works that reflect a less traditional side of the month of December.

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From the Naxos Blog: Sounds effective.
December 01, 2021

Whatever the instrument, mastery of performance technique is a daunting challenge. But spare a thought for string players who probably suffer at the hands of exploitation more than others.

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From the Naxos Blog: A Frame of Gnomes
November 19, 2021

The nearest I’ve ever got to a gnome is by eyeing its dictionary definition

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From the Naxos Blog: Alexander Zemlinsky (1871–1942).
November 05, 2021

2021 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Zemlinsky, the Austrian composer, conductor and teacher.

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From the Naxos Blog: Earworms for bookworms.
October 15, 2021

I recently registered with my local library and duly received a plastic card that gives me borrowing rights.

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From the Naxos Blog: Mikis Theodorakis (1925–2021)
October 01, 2021

Amid the busy world news scene last month, the announcement of the passing of the Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis on 2 September at the age of 96 escaped my attention.

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Classical Music News: From the Naxos Blog: Gershwin whingers.
September 17, 2021

I’ve always found it intriguing how a quality composition is seemingly indestructible when it’s pressed into new clothes by skilled arrangers.

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From the Naxos Blog: Day in, day out.
September 03, 2021

If there’s a man for all seasons, is there a music for all days? The answer seems to be ‘yes’, so off we go.

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From the Naxos Blog: High scores.
August 20, 2021

It might seem improbable that something as solid and stolid as a mountain could be inspirational to composers.

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From the Naxos Blog: F sharp major, of all keys!
August 06, 2021

Western composers uniformly embraced the system of tonality for some two centuries, until it found itself challenged by a radical alternative system called atonality around the year 1900.

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From the Naxos Blog: Musical discoveries U–Z
July 02, 2021

We reach the final instalment of our alphabetical collection of composers whose music has been somewhat neglected as the years have rolled by, with this blog casting a spotlight on Galina Ustvolskaya, Francesco Maria Veracini, Peter von Winter, Iannis Xenakis, Isang Yun and Joaquim Zamacóis.

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From the Naxos Blog: Musical discoveries P–T
June 04, 2021

Continuing our alphabetical spotlighting of less well-known composers and their works, this week’s blog visits Italy, Poland and Guatemala and presents music from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.

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From the Naxos Blog: Musical discoveries K–O
May 21, 2021

Karłowicz, Lipiński, Magnard, Nepomuceno, Ohzawa. These are the composers who give us our next alphabetical tranche of unfamiliar names and neglected outputs that deserve a more frequent airing.

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From the Naxos Blog: Musical discoveries F–J
May 07, 2021

This is the second instalment in our alphabetical sifting through composers whose profiles are sadly more obscure than their quality compositions often deserve.

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From the Naxos Blog: Musical discoveries A–E
April 16, 2021

This is the start of a 5-part series highlighting the distinctly engaging music of less well-known composers.

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From the Naxos Blog: Easter pegs
April 02, 2021

Places of Christian worship the world over will be marking the Easter Story at this time, no doubt with many performances of sacred music that vividly portray the central scenes of Jesus’ execution on the cross, his entombment, and his subsequent resurrection.

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From the Naxos Blog: All the fun of the fanfare.
March 19, 2021

A fanfare is a flourish of trumpets or other similar instruments, used for military or ceremonial purposes, or music that conveys this impression.

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From the Naxos Blog: Magic moments.
March 05, 2021

Do you recall hearing a particularly affecting piece of music for the first time, maybe as a younger newcomer to the world of classical music?

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From the Naxos Blog: Judgement day.
February 19, 2021

There are as many interpretations of pieces of classical music as there are pairs of ears – that’s inner ears for conductors, and physical ears for audiences.

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From the Naxos Blog: A centenary’s outs and ins [2]
February 05, 2021

Picking up from our last blog that featured musicians who died a century ago, in the year 1921, we consider a selection of singers, instrumentalists and composers who were born in that year.

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From the Naxos Blog: A centenary’s outs and ins
January 15, 2021

Following the 2020 global Beethoven birthday bash, I’m going to run the risk of anniversary fatigue by dwelling on what comes in its wake: 2021 and a collection of milestones marking the centenaries of either the births or deaths of a number of composers and artists.

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From the Naxos Blog: Cherry Christmas
December 18, 2020

One Christmas carol that has always been on my list of favourites is the Cherry Tree Carol.

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